THE Ashes are still hot yet already there is talk of Graeme Souness becoming the first managerial casualty of the football season. Given that he was widely considered an unwise appointment in the first place, surely Freddie Shepherd will be too pig-headed to sack him until results mean he has no alternative.

Even after three games without a goal it is absurd to talk of wielding the axe, especially when the club's plight was so predictable. But the offer of £16m for a player who is interested only in coming on loan confirms that things are becoming desperate.

The loan makes sense for Michael Owen. Rather than gathering Spanish splinters in his backside, he needs regular football in the World Cup build-up and it gives him time to see how things pan out elsewhere. But does it make sense for Newcastle if it leaves them having to replace both Owen and Shearer next season?

That Owen should find himself in this ludicrous situation is another sad reflection of football's financial lunacy as he is being traded like a piece of meat by Real Madrid. They got him for a bargain price because in another year he would have been out of contract, and now they are trying to make a huge profit.

If he does come to Newcastle they'll be dancing from Wylam to Whitley Bay and it will buy Souness a little more time. It might even switch more of the focus on to Mick McCarthy, who desperately needs to avoid a 19th Premiership defeat with Sunderland side at Wigan tomorrow.

THE farce of the week, or possibly the decade, must have been the situation which required Yorkshire captain Craig White to run the last mile to the Rose Bowl ground to ask for the C & G Trophy semi-final against Hampshire to be delayed.

The major points in the build-up to this shocking scenario were: 1. Four tough days of Roses combat ended at 5.30pm on previous day. 2. Coach driver didn't arrive at Old Trafford until 6.45, and after battling with usual Friday evening motorway traffic Yorkshire arrived at Hampshire hotel at 12.20am. 3. Team ready to depart for Rose Bowl, four miles away, at 8.30 but coach driver refused to leave before 9.30 because of requirement for nine-hour break. 4. No taxis available, so players commandeer hotel truck and greenkeeper's four-wheel drive, only to grind to halt after a mile because of usual Rose Bowl gridlock on big match days. No sign of anyone attempting to assist traffic flow for match attracting 10,000.

White succeeded in having the start delayed by 15 minutes and Hampshire, who hadn't played for five days, proceeded to win comfortably.

Questions have been asked about why Yorkshire didn't fly down and why they didn't have a better understanding with the coach driver, but the major points to arise from this debacle are: 1. No team should be required to play a cup semi-final the day after finishing a four-day match, especially when there is a risk of their opponents gaining a hugely significant advantage after several days' rest. 2. Semi-finals should be on neutral grounds, preferably with good access. 3. Access must be a prime consideration if any new grounds are built in the future.

All this eventually overshadowed the row about whether England players should have been allowed to play in the semi-finals, but the controversy threatened to flare again when the Yorkshire cricket press enquired about the availability of players for the England XI v Yorkshire match at Headingley next Wednesday. This is part of Michael Vaughan's benefit and after he named all his regular England colleagues 12,000 tickets were sold.

But once the inconsistency was raised a lot of new names were added and while the England players may well be present it now seems unlikely they will play anything like a full part in the Twenty20 match. Will the public feel cheated?

WHILE the Aussie cricketers are losing their all-conquering aura, the A squad which is about to tour Pakistan is full of 30-year-olds, suggesting there's a gap in the production line further down. Durham skipper Mike Hussey is the tour vice-captain behind the senior squad's reserve wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, and while the outstanding Hussey will be very unlucky not to win a Test cap, the same can hardly be said of the likes of Marcus North.

He is also in the A squad, but a championship average of 31.39 for Durham last season suggested he was not in Hussey's class and he has not been a great success in his recent stint with Lancashire.

WHILE football referees seem to issue more and more red cards for innocuous fouls, while ignoring blatant cheating such as shirt-pulling and diving, the rugby authorities are also clamping down on foul play by increasing suspensions.

Unfortunately, foul play contributes little to the increasing number of serious injuries, which has seen insurance premiums rocket. Whether the Japanese, having enticed Newcastle to tour with the globally-renowned Jonny Wilkinson, were able to insure against him being incapacitated seems unlikely given his recent track record. Much more of this and he'll have to consider retirement.

Published: 26/08/2005